Knowledge of health principles among professionals in Slovenian kindergartens

	Number	Age	Work experience
KT	423 (54.6%)	42.0 (±10.2) [22–59]	19.9 (±11.8) [1–40]
KTA	351 (45.4%)	35.0 (±9.2) [19–57]	9.3 (±9.2) [1–38]
All	774 (100%)	38.9 (±10.5) [19–59]	15.3 (±12.0) [1–40]

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ responsibility related to health principles in percentages.

How important are the following infection preventive measures?
Answers	Statements (%)
Answers	Agree	Disagree	I do not know
I would immediately give the child a medication to treat fever	40.1	[49.5]	10.4
I would cool down the child’s body	[78.4]	15.3	6.1
I would immediately take the child to the doctor	28.2	[58.0]	13.7
I would give the child a medication to treat fever only in case of previously written authorization	[86.4]	8.9	4.7
I would call the emergency service	[74.0]	18.0	8.0
How important is hand washing for infection prevention?
After toilet use	[95.5]	0.0	0.5
Before a meal	[99.2]	0.1	0.6
After shaking hands	[53.1]	45.1	1.8
After touching one’s nose	[90.5]	8.5	0.9
After using toys	[86.7]	12.4	0.9
After using books	[47.3]	51.0	1.7
How important are the following infection preventive measures?
Sneezing /coughing into a sleeve	[96.9]	2.5	0.7
Hand washing after touching animals	[96.4]	3.1	0.5
Separation of a sick child from the rest of the group	[92.5]	5.6	1.9
Hand disinfection	81.3	[17.7]	1.0
Preventive vaccination	[74.4]	20.6	4.9
Disinfection of toys	[97.7]	2.2	0.1
Ventilation of rooms	[97.7]	0.1	0.1

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ knowledge of health principles in percentages.

Question	Statements (%)
A child in a group has celiac disease. What is the correct measure?	In case of a birthday party, I would give him/ her only a small piece of cake	The child has a diet, but at breakfast he/she can have one-quarter of a roll	Only gluten free food is permissible	In kindergarten, we do not account for the diets of children	I do not know
	0.3	0.0	[98.3]	0.3	0.0
How would you react in case of high fever (>38.5 ºC)?	I would take him/ her immediately to the doctor	I would call the parents	I would separate the child from the class and wait for parents to come	I would check body temperature, give some water and call parents	I do not know
	0.1	15.5	1.4	[82.9]	0.1
Which are the signs of diabetes complications?	High body temperature	Incontinence disorders	Chest pain	Fatigue, drowsiness, hunger, thirst, shivering	I do not know
	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.3	2.5
A child has an abrasion on his/her hand. What is the first aid?	I would cover the abrasion with a clean pad	I would first wash the abrasion with water and then cover with a clean pad	I would first wash the abrasion with alcohol and then cover with a clean pad	I would call emergency medical services immediately	I do not know
	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.3	2.5
Have you ever been in a situation when parents brought antibiotics in the kindergarten and asked you to give them to their child at a certain time?	Yes	No	I do not remember	/	/
	40.1	[49.5]	10.4

Comparison of kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ answers regarding the age, work occupation and years of work experiences.

Questions		Statistics
		Age		Occupation		Work experiences
		p-value	sig.	p-value	sig.	p-value	sig.
RESPONSIBILITY	Knowledge of health principles is important for KT and KTA	0.913	not statistically significant	0.222	not statistically significant	0.791	not statistically significant
	Is it true that, in case of acute illness, KT or KTA must inform the kindergarten headmaster and parents?	0.319	not statistically significant	0.992	not statistically significant	0.793	not statistically significant
	Is it true that, in case of emergency, KT or KTA should not accompany the child to the doctor?	0.000	strong statistical significance p<0.001	0.459	not statistically significant	0.984	not statistically significant
HEALTH PRINCIPLES KNOWLEDGE	A child in the group has celiac disease. What is the correct measure?	0.465	not statistically significant	0.411	not statistically significant	0.611	not statistically significant
	How would you react in case of high fever (>38.5 ºC)?	0.000	strong statistical significance p<0.001	0.000	strong statistical significance p<0.001	0.869	not statistically significant
	Which are the signs of diabetes complications?	0.008	statistical significance p<0.05	0.890	not statistically significant	1.000	not statistically significant
	A child has an abrasion on his/her arm. What is the first aid?	0.764	not statistically significant	0.960	not statistically significant	0.180	not statistically significant
	Is it advisable to continue breastfeeding when a child is oneyear old and goesto the kindergarten?	0.619	not statistically significant	0.002	statistical significance p<0.05	0.504	not statistically significant
	Have you ever been in a situation when parents brought antibiotics to the kindergarten and asked you to give them to the child at a certain time?	0.000	strong statistical significance p<0.001	0.000	strong statistical significance p<0.001	0.000	strong statistical significance p<0.001
KNOWLEDGE EVALUATION	How would you rate your knowledge of health principles?	0.708	not statistically significant	0.829	not statistically significant	0.166	not statistically significant
	Where did you gain most of your knowledge of health principles?	0.010	statistical significance p<0.05	0.773	not statistically significant	0.422	not statistically significant
	When did you have your last training in health principles?	0.000	strong statistical significance p<0.001	0.547	not statistically significant	0.694	not statistically significant

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ health knowledge self-evaluation in percentages.

Question	Statements (%)
How would you rate your knowledge of health principles?	insufficient	sufficient	good	very good	excellent
How would you rate your knowledge of health principles?	0.1	3.4	29.9	56.2	10.4
How would you rate your knowledge of first aid?	insufficient	sufficient	good	very good	excellent
How would you rate your knowledge of first aid?	0.7	9.0	44.9	40.6	4.8
Where did you gain most of your knowledge of health principles?	at college or university	at seminars	at work	books, internet	elsewhere
	46.0	12.5	9.8	5.4	2.3
When did you have the last training on health principles?	1 year or less ago	1–5 years ago	5–10 years ago	10–15 years ago	more than 15 years ago
	81.6	18.4	0.0	0.0	0.0

eISSN:: 1854-2476
Language:: English

Publication timeframe:: 4 times per year
Journal Subjects:: Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Hygiene and Environmental Medicine

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Knowledge of health principles among professionals in Slovenian kindergartens

Article Category: Research article

Published Online: May 10, 2016

Page range: 185 - 194

Received: Aug 15, 2015

Accepted: Mar 10, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sjph-2016-0024

© National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Demographic data of research participants expressed as meaningful (S.D. or %) and [range].

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ responsibility related to health principles in percentages.

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ knowledge of health principles in percentages.

Comparison of kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ answers regarding the age, work occupation and years of work experiences.

Kindergarten teachers’ and their assistants’ health knowledge self-evaluation in percentages.